President Donald Trump has celebrated Kiss with a Kennedy Center Honor, despite the band previously slamming him over his election fraud lies and America’s polarization.
The rock legends were selected on Wednesday to receive the honor at a gala ceremony that Trump himself will host on Dec 8.
Announcing this year’s recipients - which also include Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone and disco queen Gloria Gaynor - Trump described Kiss as “one of the greatest rock bands of all time” and its members as “incredible people.”
There was no mention, however, of co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons being highly critical of Trump in years gone by.
In January 2021, for instance, as Trump sought to subvert the 2020 election, Stanley, 73, described his actions as “abhorrent”; “mob boss behavior” and “a true danger to our democracy.”
Four months earlier, while Trump was laying the groundwork to claim the election was stolen if he didn’t win, Stanley also wrote on Twitter: “REGARDLESS of who you support, it is incendiary & abhorrent for ANY candidate to say ‘If I lose, the election is rigged. It’s an insult to those who have fought for the free, safe elections we have and dangerously implies that citizens who don’t share your views are the enemy.”
Simmons, 75, also countered Trump’s election fraud lies in 2020, posting that “60 courts in various states and 60 Judges (including Pres Trump appointed Judges) UNANIMOUSLY, and without exception, dismissed ALL allegations of a rigged election..and that Includes Trump appointed US Attorney General Bill Barr!!!”
And in an interview with Spin in May 2022, the iconic bass guitarist suggested that Trump was partly responsible for the nation’s divisions.
“Look what that gentleman did to this country and the polarization — got all the cockroaches to rise to the top,” Simmons said.
“Once upon a time, you were embarrassed to be publicly racist and out there with conspiracy theories. Now it’s all out in the open because he allowed it… I don’t think he’s a Republican or a Democrat. He’s out for himself, any way you can get there. And in the last election, over 70 million people bought it, hook, line and sinker.”
Simmons competed on Celebrity Apprentice in 2008, long before Trump was elected president in 2016.
Despite his criticisms he has also been broadly supportive of some of Trump’s policies, including moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Fellow founding band member Ace Frehley, 74, also referred to himself as a “Trump supporter in 2020.”
The band has had little to say about the president in his second term, and in response to their Kennedy Center Honor on Wednesday, told TMZ: “KISS is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honor.”
The Kennedy Center Honors are annual awards to celebrate people in the performing arts for their lifetime contributions to American culture.
They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating in a gala event in D.C.
Honoree recommendations are accepted from the general public, while an advisory committee, which comprises members of the Center’s board of trustees as well as past Honorees and distinguished artists, select the recipients.
Asked if he was involved in the selection process, Trump - who sacked the previous chairman and put himself in charge of the board - told reporters: “I was about 98% involved.
“They all came through me,” he said.
The five recipients this year were Kiss, Gaynor, Stallone, Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford and country crooner George Strait.
